Look After You
by Munchkinface
Summary: "We could have lost you today...and it would have been my fault."  After a 'snag, bag, and tag' gone slightly pear-shaped, Pete looks after his friend.


**Standard disclaimer:** I do not own or claim to own the idea behind or creation of any characters or plot lines in relation to Warehouse 13. They remain as always n the capable (so far) hands of the SyFy network.

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><p><em>There now, steady love. So few come and don't go.<em>

_Will you, won't you, be the one I'll always know?_

_When I'm losing my control, the city spins around._

_You're the only one who knows, you slow it down._

_Oh, oh, be my baby,_

_Oh, oh, be my baby,_

_And I'll look after you._

_I'll look after you._

**- Look After You, The Fray**

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><p>Myka Bering slowly floated to consciousness, and she was annoyed. After enduring the last "snagging and bagging", all she wanted to do was sleep. It was late in the evening or early in the morning - she couldn't tell exactly which without looking at the alarm clock and that would require movement. "Not happening," she thought.<p>

She loved the sounds of the B&B at night, the old house creaking and dozing with its occupants in the late night summer breezes. Through the open windows, crickets chirping mixed with the music that filtered out of Claudia's room next door, lulling the younger girl to sleep. Pete the ferret snored softly from his cage on her vanity. Everything was as it should be…almost. Myka knew he was there, watching her, and she just lay there, listening and waiting for him to make the first move.

His presence was comforting and she almost enjoyed the nights when his protective streak went into overdrive, which was happening more frequently. The artifacts that Artie had been sending them after lately were more difficult to snag, bag, and tag. One way or another, they always seemed to end up with another knock to the head or bruise to show for their trouble. This last mission had ended with a sprained wrist for Claudia and a twisted ankle for Jinks, which put them both out of commission for the next week or two. Myka was just thankful they hadn't broken anything this time.

She'd landed a black eye taking down one suspect and bruised her back pretty good falling off a second floor balcony while grappling for the artifact, which Pete had managed to snag when the other suspect dropped it trying to get away. She knew he was feeling pretty guilty about catching the artifact instead of her, though she wouldn't have had it any other way (and truth be told, neither would Artie). Besides, she would be fine with a little bit of sleep, according to Dr. Vanessa – she just needed to convince Pete of that.

She lay there for so long, just waiting, that she began to doze again. She woke when her back twinged in protest at her current sleeping position. She stretched a little and sighed, turning over onto her side and snuffling her head down into her lumpy and comfortable pillow. A sharp intake of breath followed by a measured sigh at her movement alerted her that he was still there, keeping his silent vigil.

"Have you even been to bed yet?" she murmured, cracking her swollen eye open to peer at him in the dark. "Please tell me you haven't been sitting there just staring at me since I fell asleep." Pete just gave her a wary half smile and shrugged. Myka gingerly shuffled herself to the far edge of her bed and then held out her hand. When Pete didn't take it, she shook her hand at him and sighed loudly.

"What?" he asked quietly, leaning forward slightly, elbows on his knees. Myka glared at him as best as she could and flexed her fingers towards him repeatedly, until he reached out and took her hand between both of his. Latching on, she tugged him towards the bed. "Myka. No. Come on, you need to sleep."

"And so do you," she retorted. Pete shook his head and tried to pull his hands away, but she tugged harder. "I'm not going back to sleep until you at least lay down." Pete opened his mouth to protest and she interrupted him sharply. "Pete, seriously. I'm tired and I hurt. Just lay down."

"Myka, I'm just fine in my chair. If you want me to go, I can go back to my own –"

"PETE."

"Alright, fine," he grumbled, dropping her hand and carefully made his way onto Myka's bed. He slowly stretched out next to her, trying not to move around too much as he got comfortable. She let him fidget for a few minutes before she touched him on the shoulder, stilling him instantly. "I'm sorry. Am I bugging you? I can just-"

"Just relax," she yawned, blinking slowly. "It's nothing. I'm alright. See?" Pete nodded, his throat suddenly tight. He leaned into her slightly, touching their foreheads together. "Pete?" He didn't answer, just squeezed his eyes closed and swallowed hard. "Pete," Myka laughed lightly. "Pete, I'm fine."

"I know," he said roughly. "I know. It's just… Myka we could have lost you today. And it would have been my fault. I'm sorry."

"Hey. Hey now. Come on, you snagged the artifact. That's the job, right?"

Pete shook his head angrily. "Not when you're falling off a building, it's not. I screwed up. I'm sorry."

Myka sighed. "Stop that. Stop apologizing when you didn't do anything wrong."

Pete laughed harshly and pulled back so he could peer at her face in the darkness. "You're forgetting that you fell off a second story balcony today and I could have caught you! Instead, I went after some stupid artifact that could have easily -"

"Destroyed the world as we know it?" Myka interrupted. "You and I both know that if you had tried to stop me from falling – and there's no guarantees here that you wouldn't have gone over as well – that he would have just taken the artifact and kept on running and hurting people."

"But Artie –"

"Probably would have fired you if you let him get away after we spent two weeks tracking him down. And don't forget that he shoved Claudia and Steve down those stairs and they got hurt. Artie was out for blood." Pete sighed, ready to argue with her again, and she poked him in the shoulder with more force than was strictly necessary. "I am exhausted and I hurt. I am not going to keep arguing about this. You did not do anything wrong."

Pete leaned forward so their foreheads were touching again and closed his eyes. "Agree to disagree, " he said roughly. "But don't do that anymore, okay? If you're going to try and get yourself hurt, can you at least take the time to make sure I'm not busy doing something else? So that I can, ya know, stop you."

Myka laughed and yawned loudly. "Alright, deal. Can I go back to sleep now?" Pete nodded and started to pull back like he was going to leave. "Pete?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay with me?"

Pete stopped short. "Really?"

Myka nodded and yawned again. "Yeah. Consider it something. I don't know what you call it, atonement? Since you feel crappy about today, and you've spent half your night in that god awful armchair, just lay down here and make sure the boogeyman doesn't get me." She smirked. "Unless you think you can't protect me from the monster in my closet."

"Oh, I can take care of him no problem. Let me just go get the tesla grenade that Claud let me borrow and we'll see how long he lasts." Pete grinned at her in the dark as she yawned again. He settled down and fluffed the pillow behind his head. "Sleep, Myka. Dr. V will have my head if she knows I kept you awake."

She nodded, snuggling against her pillow as he pulled the comforter tighter around them both. "G'night, Pete. And, hey…thanks. For caring."

"Never a problem, Mykes," he responded softly, already drifting off. "S'my job."

She laughed softly to herself as he started to snore. She knew in the morning, she'd wake up and he'd be gone, ready to pretend that he was never there, had never been so racked with worry that he had to watch over her in the middle of the night to make sure she really was still there. And she knew he would do the same the next time Claudia or Steve or Artie got hurt and he felt he could have prevented it. It was just Pete.

She wouldn't want him any other way.


End file.
